The interferometer and the beam deflection method (or the optical lever method) are two most popular techniques for the non-contact and precise displacement measurement of objects. The interferometer measures the translational displacement of the object. It is, however, not useful in the measurement of the angular displacement of the object at the same time. The beam deflection method is useful in measuring the angular displacement of the object. An atomic force microscope (AFM) may use the beam deflection method to detect the angular displacement of its cantilever during the measurement of the object to be measured. The deformation of the cantilever will contain the information in the translational displacement and the information in the angular displacement of the cantilever. It is almost impossible to separate the information of the pure translational displacement and the information of the angular displacement from the information obtained from the deformation of the cantilever. The translational displacement of the cantilever may only be obtained indirectly based on certain geometric formulas relating to the bending cantilever. Therefore, the accuracy of the conventional AFM depends not only on the measurement system itself, but also by the accuracy of the calculation, which further depends on the physical and geometric characteristics of the cantilever. These characteristics vary depending on the material of the cantilevers being used. No universal data of these characteristics are available.
It is thus necessary to provide a system for measurement of the height, angle and their variations of the surface of an object that measures the translational displacement and the angular displacement of the cantilever of an atomic force microscope at the same time.
It is also necessary to provide a novel system for the precise measurement of the height, angle and their variations of the surface of an object.
It is also necessary to provide a system for measurement of the height, angle and their variations of the surface of an object that may be prepared in low costs.
It is also necessary to provide a system for measurement of the height, angle and their variations of the surface of an object that is easy to operate.